Do You Have To Have All Your Vehicles In Your Household On Your Auto Policy?

MrsJonesActive Member

I recently discovered that my auto insurance requires that all vehicles be listed on the policy because I'm married?! I have never heard of this before.

This discovery came about after my husband called to have his car removed from the policy and the whole policy was cancelled. I discovered this when I went online to pay my premium and it was terminated. Of course I called my agent immediately to find out why and get it reinstated. When I was told I couldn't get the policy reinstated without both vehicles I was pretty upset and asked to speak to the manager for an explanation. I never got that explanation but my policy was reinstated with both vehicles. Right now I'm okay with it but I'm looking for another insurance company.

CherylTorrieMember

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I wonder if your husband's vehicle was just listed to provide explanation for the limited mileage you listed rather than actually being part of your covered vehicle section. I always get into an argument each time I apply for a different insurance policy because I put very few miles on my vehicle each year. I just don't drive very often and I don't want to list that I put thousands of miles on my car when I don't. You should ask your insurance company if you are paying for coverage on your husband's car or if it's simply listed as another vehicle available to you. I have never heard of any law stating that all of the vehicles in your household have to be on the same policy.

MrsJonesActive Member

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Thank you for your responses. It was explained to me that auto insurance agencies do require that if you are married that all vehicles in your household be listed on one policy in Ohio. Why? To assure that the policyholders are not left with the liability if they each have separate policies not with the same carrier and list the spouse as a covered driver. Example if my husband drives my vehicle and has an accident and uses his insurance to file a claim it can be denied because my vehicle is not on his policy and vice versa. Yeah, it was confusing to me too but it made sense after I thought about it.

MrsJonesActive Member

That's true, but can't you have him and you on different policies? I don't see why not since everyone would be insured by an insurance policy.

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I believe you can if you don't know about this. It may not even be in every state in the US or other countries for that matter. The down said is if an accident does happen like in the example I gave, a person would have to deal with both of the insurance companies to see which will pay the claim. A roundabout way could be not to even mention that there is another vehicle but with technology today I doubt that would fly.

Things like this just make me want to challenge the principle. Why can't married couples each having their own vehicle elect to have individual insurances? It should be no different than having individual health and life insurance through employers.

PennyPincherMember

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That does not surprise me really. Where I have my auto insurance I was told that my 21 year old son had to be listed as a driver on my insurance because at the time he lived in the same household as me. Now mind you, his name is not on the title to my van and he NEVER drives it. Needless to say, this was going to make my insurance much more expensive having someone so young on my policy. Fortunately, I was about to get remarried and was moving to a different home than him within a little over a month. I told the insurance agent that under no circumstances whatsoever was I going to pay to have my son covered when he never, ever drove my van. She finally gave in and allowed me to only have myself and my husband on the policy since we were the only ones listed on the van title. It's all about the money. If they think they can get you, they will try.

MrsJonesActive Member

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PennyPincher said:

That does not surprise me really. Where I have my auto insurance I was told that my 21 year old son had to be listed as a driver on my insurance because at the time he lived in the same household as me. Now mind you, his name is not on the title to my van and he NEVER drives it. Needless to say, this was going to make my insurance much more expensive having someone so young on my policy. Fortunately, I was about to get remarried and was moving to a different home than him within a little over a month. I told the insurance agent that under no circumstances whatsoever was I going to pay to have my son covered when he never, ever drove my van. She finally gave in and allowed me to only have myself and my husband on the policy since we were the only ones listed on the van title. It's all about the money. If they think they can get you, they will try.

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Yes, definitely all about the money. I would have asked to see that in writing. I do believe that auto insurance agencies have different stipulations in different states or countries. I do wonder why that is. To boot they try to make it seem like it is a benefit to you as the policyholder. I'm glad you stood your ground.

PatWell-Known Member

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In my state and each state is different each driver in the household is to be covered on the policy. The reason I think is you never know when you may have to drive someone else's car and if that person is not covered and have an accident there is a chance for a financial problem for the household. In my state is is against the law to operate a vehicle without insurance on the vehicle.

ZyniWell-Known Member

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There may also be another thing at issue, since there are generally multiple vehicle discounts. If you pull one of those vehicles, I presume that the discount would then go away, thus you would probably need to have them write up a new policy. If your husband drove fewer miles than you do then that could also be at issue.

I had no idea that there was a law that household members have to use the same insurance company. It's bad enough that they can force people to buy a "service" in the first place, but to then control who you purchase it from? Shaking my head.

xTinxWell-Known Member

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I don't think it's practical - much less cost-efficient - to insure all your vehicles. The thing is, you don't get to use all of them. If you have around 2 or 3 and you think you have enough budget to have them all on auto policy, then go for it. Just make sure you know what you're in for. On the other hand, if you're still making ends meet every now and then, then just insure your main vehicle - the one you use more than the others.

HappyflowerladyWell-Known Member

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I think that the requirement varies from state to state. In some states, if you have a vehicle that you aren't driving, you do not need to insure it, and in other states, you do. If you had a policy that covers more than one car and you have a multi-car discount, and then you remove one of the cars, that would change the policy in some cases. My state says you are supposed to insure any people who are old enough to drive, regardless of whether they actually do drive or not. The different requirements are confusing. Our state also requires you to have. Insurance on the vehicle before they will even transfer the title; so you have to go and get the insurance as soon as you buy the car, and before it is even legally yours. Otherwise, the license company sends you back the the insurance company for the proof of insurance before they will transfer your title for you.

MrsJonesActive Member

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As a consumer a lot of information is not shared with us regarding auto insurance unless we ask. Before we purchased a second vehicle things were really simple but now I question a lot about auto insurances and why there are so many differences among them even within one state. Just where are the true savings when purchasing auto insurance?

NikkiRMember

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I worked in auto claims for a while and the rule is not that all cars need to be on the same policy. The rule is that all immediate family members who live at the same address must be on the insurance policy for each car. Insurance follows the car, not the driver, so Insurance companies want to know who will likely be driving the car. Unless they know all potential frequent drivers of the car, they can not know how much risk there is involved with insuring the vehicle.

If both you and your husband have the same car insurance company, then they will merge your policy into a single policy with both cars and both drivers. If you have separate companies for each car, then both you, your husband, and any children with permits or licenses, must be listed on the policy for both vehicles.

Hopefully this helps you understand insurance a little bit. Feel free to ask any other questions you have. I did not specialize in Ohio insurance, but many of the common rules are consistent across states

ashley0323Member

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I think you only have to include cars that you are actively driving. Even if you only drive that car once a month or every other month, you still have to have coverage. If you get caught driving across the street without insurance, you'll be paying some hefty fines.